Raquel
by Sticky Wins
Summary: 13 year old Raquel is a normal girl. Nothing exciting or extreme ever happens to her. She live with her parents, moody older brother, and crazy pet dog, until one day while walking to school, she becomes something she never imagined. Spoilers. Oneshot.


Author's Note:

Eh, heh… I've started yet another fic. I have two already un-finished… Sorry folks. When I feel like writing, I need to cease the moment or the idea will die. I'm thinking of making it a one-shot, but I'll continue if you want me to.

Anyway, I've always kind of wanted to illustrate the game thought the Spirit's eyes, even though I coughhaven'tbeatenthegameyetcough I think I've seen enough spoilers to know what I'm talking about. (God, I hope so) Also, I wanted to tell the story from a Sprit who isn't necessarily a troubled child, but is just a regular teenager. Confused and moody. Finding their way in the world. The Spirit is like me a bit too… Like, I have a crazy dog, an annoying (younger) brother (XD), and I have an unhealthy obsession with Linkin Park. droooool

Okay, enough rambling. I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** If you think I own Baten Kaitos, then I guess you don't pay attention to web site titles. I also don't own Poptarts or Linkin Park. :( Sadness.

* * *

It was freezing that day. It was Monday and I was walking home from school hiding my hands in my sweatshirt, kicking myself for not bringing a heavier coat. It was only the first day of autumn, and it was already so cold I could see my breath. The wind whipped my blond hair, random strands getting into my eyes. I kept pulling my hands back out form their hiding places and pushing the hair behind my ears so I could see where I was going. Not that I really wanted to get there. At home, all I would find was a crazy dog, a moody older brother, and a nice cozy spot where I could start doing my lovely homework. Oh, joyous, happy day.

Finally, I reached my front door. I rubbed my numb hands together and rummaged through my pockets for my keys. 'Let's see… gum wrapper, dime, paper, another dime… no keys. Oh, crap.' I poked the bell and then slammed my fists against the door.

"Kyle? Kyle, let me IN!" I yelled, shivering as I thought of the nice, heated family room where the couch and TV where calling my name. I rang the doorbell about 10 more times. I could see him in front of the door now, fogging up the glass with his warm breath, an annoying grin on his face. "Kyle, I'm gonna FREEZE!" I scowled at him, giving him a look that said I'd claw his eyes out if he didn't turn that freakin' knob… He rolled his eyes, and with a mellow dramatic sigh, he opened the door.

"THANK you. Jeez…" I mumbled kicking my ratty Chuck Taylors off and dropping my 20 lb backpack on the floor. 'Why do brother exist?'

"Your such a drama queen, Rocky." He teased, using that stupid nickname he had for me. My name was Raquel, not Rocky. What a moron. This time it was me who rolled my eyes.

"The only queen around here is you." I stated coldly. He just laughed.

I shuffled off to the kitchen opening the fridge and then closing it as quickly as I could because I was already cold enough. I grabbed pop tart and then poured my self a tall glass of milk, still glaring at my brother. He was one of those kids that wore all black, all the time. He had blond hair like me but he had brown eyes instead of dark blue. His hair was always up. Like he had been struck by lightning or something. I'd always tease him, because he spent more time in the bathroom than I do.

"So how was your day, twerp?" He inquired sounding as innocent as someone saying "twerp" could. I grunted something unintelligible and stuffed my pop tart in my mouth, avoiding the question. He had no right to call me twerp. I was almost 14, and he was 17. Besides, I was about as tall as he was. I swallowed, and then I realized that he wouldn't stop staring at me with those stupid childlike puppy dog eyes until I told him something.

"I aced my algebra test." I said, wiping the milk mustache from my face. He laughed again.

"You nerd. Only nerds are good at math." I snorted. Yeah, 'cause he nearly fluncked out of algebra when he took it. He fingered the multiple earrings on his ear, staring at the clock. It was almost 4:00 pm… I watched as he got up from the table and walked over to the back door, letting my crazy chocolate lab, Poncho, into the house.

"Where are you going?" I asked, pushing Poncho away from me. He was so hyper I think I saw him jump 2 feet into the air.

"Library."

'Liar.'

"I'll be back about six."

'Oh, sure.'

He walked past me and biffed me off the back of the head, a customary greeting or farewell in the older brother language. "No boys or drugs while I'm gone, m'kay, twerp?" he said, grabbing his car keys. I grunted again. My parents where working late today. How sad. I'd be alone for a while. I hopped of the stool I was sitting on and wandered over to the couch, book in hand. I felt like reading before I did my stupid homework.

This one was about… Astrology? Hmm. How boring. I shrugged and sat down with it anyway. Maybe I'd fall asleep…

The moment I read the first page, I felt a nice long nap coming on. I needed a book I could get into. A book with a storyline. Not a book talking about where stars were…

I caught my self, jerking my head up. I had almost fallen asleep. Then I remembered that it was okay to fall asleep during this book. It was kind of a reflex I'd gotten due to many a history class; I couldn't fall asleep while reading.

That's weird… One of the constellations was called Baten Kaitos. What kind of a name is that? It had something to do with a whale…

Then, before I knew it, I had fallen asleep, dreaming of whales trying to force-feed me pop tarts.

"Wuff!"

'I didn't know whales could bark…' I thought, still sleeping.

"Rrrruff! Woof!"

'Gee, that sounds a lot like my dog…' Then I felt something cold and wet on my face.

"WOOF!" I shot out of my curled up position.

"Whales!" I looked around, keeping a sharp eye out for a whale with pop tarts. All I saw was Poncho, looking at me with his head tilted slightly. I laughed at his curious expression.

"Hey, Poncho. Thanks for waking me up. " I said, petting his soft ears. He wasn't the brightest dog, be he was sweet. He licked my face again, his tail thumping the ground hard. I rubbed my chin, and found I had drooled during my little nap. There was even a little on the arm of my sweatshirt. I sighed, looking at the clock. I had only been asleep for about 30 min, so my parents would be home in an hour or so.

Heaving another sigh, I walked over to the stairs, lugging my backpack with me to my room. I went through my normal nightly routine, homework, dinner, reading a little more. I was sitting at the table when my brother finally came home. It was almost 9 o'clock, waaaay after six. To my surprise he came in with a few library books. What do ya know? He did what he said he would. Even so, my mom started yelling at him about being late. It wasn't fare, really. My brother had made some mistakes, like piercing his ears with out telling my parents. He'd even smoked before. But he said he would change, and that's what he was doing so far.

I didn't want to hear any yelling, so I walked up stairs to my room again. I closed the door, turned out the lights, and threw my self down on my bed, wondering if I'd dream about anything as interesting as my whale and pop tart dream.

♥

The park…

All the trees where dead, not a single leaf on any of them.

The swings there squeak…

Squeak, squeak, squeak…

A girl with white hair sat on a swing.

The land surrounding her looked barren and plague ridden.

Still the girl swung…

Back, and forth, back and forth…

_Cast light upon the darkened Earth… _someone said in a singsong voice.

_Save those who are lost in Despair…_

_O, Mighty Ocean, guide us as we journey… _The girl's head turned slowly, revealing dark blood red eyes.

_Through__the Darkest pit of Night. _Her mouth moved with the words this time, so that the powerful voice seemed to be coming from her…

A bright, powerful, painful light…

♥

"Ahh!" I shot up, my chest heaving, cold sweat on my face. I wiped my forehead and tried to slow down my heart because it was beating in my throat. Glancing at the clock, I groaned. It was early. Way to early to be awake. Yet, I had to get up at that time anyway for school. I tried and tried to fall back asleep, but my eyes fluttered open each time. After a few moments of staring at the ceiling, I rolled out of bed and got dressed.

I slowly made my way down the stairs, my eyes still half lidded. The kitchen was empty, seeing as no one in my house was awake, them being sane and all. Except for my brother, but he had left of school already. I grabbed breakfast and saw Poncho sitting on the porch again. My brother had gotten into the bad habit of leaving the poor dog out longer than he should. I opened the door, letting Poncho greet me with his normal hyper tail thumping and dog-kisses.

I threw a little food into his bowl, and then headed out the door, this time wearing two coats. I shoved my headphones on, deciding some nice loud music might wake me up.

Ah, Linkin Park. Such lovely, agnsty music. All telling of pain, lose, and burning anger. Not that I had ever felt any of these emotions. It took a few minutes, but I finally figured out which of my CD's was actually in the player. Good ol' Reanimation. So what if they where remixes, it had "My December" on it, and I was too lazy to buy the real version.

"This is my December

This is my time of the year

This is my December

This is all so clear…"

I loved that song so much… I let it play out; happy the cool air was still instead of blowing hair into my face. I decided to take the long way to school. I wanted to listen to music for as long as I could. It was a quite morning, the sidewalks where still empty. I must have been really early. Then came my favorite part of my favorite song…

"And I'd give it all away

Just to have somewhere to go to

Give it all away

To have someone to come home to"

It was one of those lines, that if you absorbed the words well enough, it could send shivers down you spine. Such loneliness and pain… In a way, I kind of wished I had known those feelings, that maybe they would make me feel the same way "My December" always made me felt.

Once I realized I had zoned out, I found my feet had taken me to the park. I shivered, either from cold of fear. I saw the swing that girl had been sitting on… the eerie squeaking of it's hinges.

"My December" ended, so I turned off my CD player, still staring at the park. It looked empty and dead, just like my dream…

…_O, Mighty Ocean…_

I turned; the voice had come from behind me. Nothing. I could hear the crisp silence humming in my ears. I could hear the echo of the soft wind, my breath, my heartbeat.

Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.

… _Through_ _the Darkest pit of Night…_

The light. The bright, painful light that stung eyeballs. The light that I could still see even when my eyes where closed.

When I finally opened them I couldn't see anything. I looked down; I could still see my feet, hands, arms… But the park was gone, the sidewalk, even my huge backpack. Vanished into thin air. My clothes where different too. They looked exotic and unworldly, like I was from a different country. My hair was bound back with a sort of tube, so that a little tuft of hair poked out the end.

Suddenly, I saw something strange in the white nothingness. It was similar to a reflection, only I felt separated like I was watching a home video. I looked scared, even though I really wasn't. I felt like I was in a trance, like everything that was happening was normal, my whole body felt numb.

I noticed the mirror-me's hair slowly lost pigment, going from blond to white. My eyes went from dark blue to pale sky blue. I looked blind. I looked like ghost, a spirit.

"_Your cleansing is complete._" Said a voice somewhere in the oblivion. It sounded like the voice from my dream. "_Chose wisely, young one._" I had no idea what the voice was talking about and I suddenly I began to panic. The anxiety I should have been feeling before came flooding back. But still, I felt strangely frozen. My heart didn't race like it usually did when I felt uneasy, only my mind reacted to the anxiety. In fact, if I had known any better, I would've said I didn't feel my heart beat at all.

Colors slowly made their way into my vision, stinging my eyes again. Little red lights surrounded me; each one that floated past held an emotion. Most held sadness, regret and longing… loneliness… I looked around me, wishing to find comfort for suddenly, I too felt empty. I traveled and traveled, panicking more each second. I was lost, confused, and wanted my regular hair color back.

Then I found it. The comfort I had been looking for. A boy with blue hair…

"That sprit seems to like you." Said a voice, chilling and filled with false innocence. "Why not bond with it?"

"My name's Kalas." The boy said cautiously. "What's yours?"

"Raquel." I said. My voice was deeper and confident, more soothing now. I felt like I could sing, something I'd never been able to do. "I am Raquel."

I couldn't tell you what happened next. It was yet another rush of overwhelming emotions. All I remember is the boy stretching his arms out wide, and then a sort of flashback.

"_Hey, look it's that one winged freak again…_"

"_Only one wing-of-heart? How strange…_"

"_Yeah, he's so weird… some say it means he only has half a heart…_"

… _half a heart …_

I heard screaming… a little boy, screaming.

"_Kalas! Help!_"

Tears, hurt, the deafening roar of a fire…

"_Did you hear about Georg?_"

"That poor man… he should have never taken that cursed boy in…"

Cursed…

Freak…

Suddenly, I knew.

I don't know how, but I knew who I was at the very moment. After I was bonded with Kalas, I knew why I was in that strange place with strange clothes and feeling strange emotions. I knew why I had been cleansed. Why I was no longer human.

'I am Raquel.'

'I am a Guardian Spirit.'

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Author's Note

Sooo, what do ya think? Should I continue? Or should I give up because it sucks? Sorry for any errors. Don't blame me, blame this stupid editing thingie. It smushes stuff togther... Review, Please!


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